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Professors author personalized medicine textbook

Three members of the Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy, along with a member of the Purdue University faculty, have collaborated to author a textbook titled “Pharmacogenetics, Kinetics, and Dynamics for Personalized Medicine.”

Ohio Northern’s David F. Kisor, professor of pharmacokinetics, Jon E. Sprague, dean and professor of pharmacology, Jeffrey N. Talbot, associate professor of pharmacology, and Michael D. Kane, associate professor of bioinformatics and genomics at Purdue, contributed to the textbook, which will be used by pharmacy students and pharmacists.

“Pharmacogenetics, Kinetics, and Dynamics for Personalized Medicine” provides a primer for understanding pharmacogenetics (the study of genetic factors that influence how people respond to drug therapy) in the applied context of pharmacokinetics (how the body handles a drug) and pharmacodynamics (the effects of a drug on the body). This valuable foundation illuminates how these principles and scientific advances can create optimal individual patient care, i.e., “personalized medicine.”

“The book is important because it is translational in nature, meaning that it connects the basic science to clinical application,” Kisor said. “We believe this book is the most ‘clinically applicable’ textbook. There are some very good reference and introductory textbooks available, but our book is not intended to be a reference book. It is aimed at bringing the science to the clinical setting in a very practical way.”

Through specific drug examples, the textbook explores how the genetic constitution of an individual may lead to the need for an altered dose or, in some cases, alternative drug therapy. Real-world cases highlight the specific relationships between genetics, drug action and the body’s response as well as adverse drug reactions, altered metabolism and drug efficacy.